If youre new to an MMO you just might be hunting with a group of allies one day when someone says something that completely loses you. Well fear not, for I am here to lend you aid in understanding these confusing words. There are many terms and terminologies we use in MMOs that may confuse a player. Players have technically invented a new language and it can be confusing to newcomers. Lets get started shall we?

Name

Meaning

1337:

This is a term used to mean leet or elite. Its a term that is part of what's known as leet speak.

ADD:

This term is generally referred to when in combat and an extra creature is drawn into the mix. If youre engaged in combat and see someone say ADD!! You can bet something else just started hitting someone in your group.

Aggro:

This is the term used for telling someone that a monster has been alerted to your presence and is either on his way towards a group member or already hitting them. It may be you.

AFK:

This is a common term used if someone needs to step away a moment. It means Away From Keyboard. (AFK)

ALT:

This term refers to an alternate character players play from time to time when not on their main character.

Aoe:

Area of Effect means a spell of skill that will strike all enemies or players in a surrounding area. These can be beneficial or detrimental.

Bio:

Is a way of saying they have to use the bathroom. If you hear someone say Bio break Chances are they are headed to the bathroom.

Boss:

Is usually the main target in an encounter, quest or dungeon. He will be the main guy your group is after.

Brb:

Means Be Right Back. So dont pull your ally is likely AFK.

Buff:

Is a term used to describe a beneficial spell that might increase defense, attack, or anything that offers a beneficial effect to a character.

Camp:

Is often referred to as two things. The first is a camp where your group might set up and pull creatures from. The second is camping a certain creature or object in a given area. Maybe your group needs an item or mob that spawns in a certain place, but its on a timer. Staying there until it spawns is camping.

CC:

Crowd Control is often a term referring to a skill that can keep enemies at bay. Spells that immobilize the enemy making them unable to move or attack are crowd control spells. These are useful and often used when a group gets multiple enemies in battle.

Class:

Refers to a players archetype such as a Guardian, or Lore-Master.

Con:

In most MMOs this means consider and is used to judge the difficulty of an enemy. In Lord of the Rings Online the con is color coded and involves regular and elite creatures.

DD:

Direct Damage is a spell or skill that deals a shot of direct damage to an enemy.

Debuff:

Is a skill or ability that causes detrimental effects. It could be a slow, armor rend, or anything that impairs their abilities or stats

Ding:

Is the universal MMO way of saying I leveled. If you hear someone say Ding they just gained a level.

DOT:

This means Damage over Time. These are spells or skills that deal damage over time rather than all at once.

DPS:

Damage per Second is how much damage a character or weapon can deal per second. Its often referred to as a high damage dealing class as well. Some groups may say We need to get some DPS. They are referring to a high damage dealing class.

Drop:

Commonly refers to what a creature drops for loot or what has dropped.

Epic:

Epic is used to refer to an epic quest, item, skill, or loot.

Exploit:

This is the intentional use of flaws in the games programming, also known as cheating.

Faction:

This refers to one of the many factions of people within the MMO world. It can also refer to how a certain race or group feels about the player. This will become more relevant with the new Reputation system.

Farm:

This is camping an area over and over again for gold and loot, but in Lord of the Rings Online it can also refer to actual farming with farmland and seeds.

GM:

GM's are Game Masters and most of the times paid employees of the company that is responsible for the MMo you are playing. GMs are the ones who answer petitions and handle customer service in-game. They will also put on events for players to join in called GM events.

Griever:

This is used to refer to a person who intentionally tries to cause problems or interrupt another players enjoyment, often times by just being a jerk. This can involve intentionally getting people killed, kill stealing, bad mouthing the populace with insults, and just doing anything that can interfere with others having fun. Being disruptive.

Group:

This is often times your group of allies also called a Fellowship in Lord of the Rings.

HOT:

This is a Heal Over Time. Unlike a direct heal these will heal a person a certain amount every few seconds over a given time.

INC:

This is often times used to let people know a creature or pull is coming. It is short for Incoming.

Instance:

This usually refers to private dungeons or private sections of the world. Once a group enters no other players will be able to interfere within their private dungeon.

Kite:

This is a method of attacking a mob by running around pulling it behind you and using ranged skills or spells to kill it without ever directly engaging it.

KOS:

This is a term used to define something that views you as Kill on Sight.

Lag:

This refers to a player freezing or skipping due to server connection issues.

LFF:

This means Looking for Fellowship. People will sometimes say this when they are looking to join a fellowship group.

Loot:

Combat has its own rewards and to the victor goes the spoils. Loot is what a creature drops after you kill them.

Mez:

This is short for mesmerize and refers to a skill that can be performed or cast on an enemy to incapacitate them, making them unable to move or attack.

Main:

This is what people refer to as their primary character.

Mana:

In more recent MMOs this is refered to as energy or power, but it serves the same purpose. This is the substance used to cast spells. Some people will still refer to this as mana.

MH:

This means Main healer. In groups that accommodate more than one healer one may be selected as the MH to avoid wasting mana by cross healing.

Mob:

This is your enemy. Mobs are what players refer to enemy NPCs (Non-player characters) as.

MT:

This is your main tank. If you have more than one tanking class in your fellowship it might be a good idea to assign a MT. Otherwise when everyone tries to pull and tank different mobs it can get messy and very frustrating for the healer.

Mule:

This is the term given to a spare character used solely for storing items. A Mule character is simply extra storage space.

Nerf:

You may here this term after a patch where skills are adjusted. Players will often times cry Nerf when one of their character class skills or certain in-game items get weakened or toned down.

Newb:

This term has two uses. Choose your words wisely when using this term. It is often considered rude.

1. This refers to a player new to the game.

2. This is meant to insult a player by calling them a newb you are insinuating they dont know what they are doing.

NPC:

This means Non-Player Character and refers to computer controlled characters around the gaming world.

Nuke:

This word often refers to a direct damage spell of high yield.

OOM:

This means Out of Mana, but in Lord of the Rings may also be called OOE (Out of Energy).

Patch:

This is an update to the game. They often change or alter aspects of the gaming world by rebalancing skills, changing environments, and fixing bugs.

PC:

This means Player Character and refers to a character played by a person rather than being controlled by the computer.

Pet:

This is an ally to a player. A pet is a summoned creature that aids in combat. Lore-masters crow is a pet.

Pop:

This is a term used when a mob spawns. If you are engaged in combat and someone says POP! A mob likely just spawned nearby.

Proc:

This is a magical effect on a weapon that can activate on striking a creature.

PST:

Please Send Tell. This is often used by people seeking a fellowship or trying to sell goods in the trade channel. Selling ubber sword of Awesomeness PST with offers.

Pulling:

This is a term used to let people know that you are pulling a mob. If someone says Pulling. You can expect a creature to be coming at you soon.

PvE:

This means Player vs Environment. It also refers to the server type. On a PvE server players can not engage in open Player vs Player combat.

PvP:

This means Player vs Player. Many players will choose to engage in combat against each other and on PvP servers they can do so. In Lord of the Rings there are no PvP servers so PvP combat is joined in the Ettenmoores

Quest:

This is a task given to you by an NPC to carry out for a reward.

Raid:

This is a hard task or quest that requires multiple fellowships working together to complete.

Rez:

This means Resurrect. If you fall in combat certain classes can revive where you have fallen.

Spam:

This is the term used when someone constantly sends tells or fills the chat channel with pointless chatter over and over. This also can occur with in-game mails as we have all seen in the form of Gold seller spam advertisements.

Spawn:

This means a creature just reappeared near where he was killed. Creatures in the world will re-spawn after a given time. Death is never permanent.

Tank:

This is the main defensive line of your group. The tank is the one that stands between the enemy and the fellowship. The Guardian class is a tank.

WTB:

This is a term often used in the trading channel. It means Want to Buy and is used by players looking to buy a certain item.

WTS:

Similar to WTB, WTS is the opposite meaning Want to Sell. This is used by players trying to sell something.

WTT:

This is another trade channel special and means Want to Trade. This is used by players looking to barter one item off for another